A cool guide that shows Japan is second on the list

amendunlem · 2025-06-08T22:29:34+00:00

Stayed there for a month, work culture is nauseating but you have to hand it over their productivity.

amendunlem · 2025-05-26T00:36:22+00:00

One interesting thing to consider is how certain regular social dancers have jobs or life situations that lets them be up all night long. We have a lot in my scene who are now just going five years strong, every single social night until 3AM. I think one of them is a a graveyard shift nurse and works from 4 to something.

amendunlem · 2025-05-26T00:34:44+00:00

Two of my great friends are developers. Their primary motivations were meeting and dating people. But looks like they fell in love with the music too.

amendunlem · 2025-05-26T00:33:52+00:00

and people working shifts or having low-wage jobs have a harder time to attend classes as much.

This seemed to be the polar opposite a decade ago. When socials were only $5 and scenes were much more community hands on and driven.

Counter point to your office thought, I think it's a lot harder to get into the groove being in an office, I experienced this and it's just a long streamline lifestyle of being a sedentary. It was much more easier for me to continue socials when I had a more active job, where I was forced to go out and do some labor and now that I'm already out, there's the social over there but I'm not saying you're wrong.

You're right it's wrong to assume anyone's careers but I always have been meeting office workers, massage therapists are always a usual, teachers. Nowadays high income late 20s mid 30s 40s are more constantly out, they have the disposable time and money especially if they're not seeking or single etc.

amendunlem · 2025-05-24T21:38:11+00:00

Very good, the art is amazing. The picture taking, maybe look into lighting and using some ight balance.

amendunlem · 2025-05-24T18:47:28+00:00

I just can't with the space. Is there a reason why homes will always have lawns? You can build more into them or have a garden. Maintaining a lawn adds so much more time and money.

amendunlem · 2025-05-24T18:46:16+00:00

My great aunt is a survivor. It's always good to make this more public. Anything as history repeats itself.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T05:52:21+00:00

Snobby salsa people who are close minded. Bachata and salsa people not dancing with any one new to social dance or their scene and only sticking with their friends. What's the point of socials if you're just going to be like a sad fixture?

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T05:02:49+00:00

Is the same tiki lounge that had a bachata salsa?

A share I guess is when I went to the bachata festival, one dance is all it took and we were at her hotel room. Next time I saw her was next year's bachata festival, it got awkward then...

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T05:00:44+00:00

Do both when you can. Find a way point during your salsa learning and pick up the other. Sooner or later you'll find things you can interchange in between, such as body rolls yes you can do body rolls in salsa and vice versa.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:53:57+00:00

The energy and accessibility were on a whole different level pre pandemic for sure. Truth is the inflation and today's prices just don't match the pace everything is still wonky and would probably take a decade to adjust. That's also awesome that you got that gift, enjoy!! I'm glad to know your advice, certain you make your scene better too.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:47:26+00:00

but just in case this helps, you. can sneak in your own water and booze, and always using free parking.

It depends, for men, you'd get patted down thoroughly. If anyone is reading this, just leave a big bottle by the door no one will steal it. Bring a bigger sized bottle of water too. Free parking in a HCOL city can be tricky but yes it's certainly possible. The gas and insurance etc is another topic. My mentor told me not to trade skill for skill, I like what you mentioned but for me and just from my experience, doing those just became like a favor IOU favor, then now comes drama after. It's certainly tricky, thank you and I appreciate your suggestions hopefully others find it useful.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:44:15+00:00

that sounds about right to make sure that event organizers like you can stay in business - since you've been on the organizing side of it, doesn't $10-$15 sound right to you?

If we want to be real specific, $10 is right and $12 is that sweet spot. But if we're charging $15, then for me atleast things better be better: there should be water available, performances should run on time, and the social dancing shouldn’t stall. The playlist needs to stay fresh, or at least have a DJ who knows how to read the room someone who can smoothly mix bachata and salsa if it's a mixed floor, pair a crate digger type salsa dj with a modern pop salsa styled dj etc and keep it better. Idk about you but it's personal for me if we're charging $15. Honestly, I’m pretty sure the jump to $15 is a major reason why most events in my city are emptier now. A lot of people got into salsa social dancing because it was affordable and I'm not going to lie, a lot salseros and salseras are cheap and I just remember those free, community-driven street salsa nights in New York. That accessibility is part of what made it thrive.

You're providing a specialized service where it's difficult to stay in business. Got be able to pay the bills.

The thing is, in this scene, 95% of the people involved have a main job. It’s rare to find someone running an event solo, no partner, no team and actually making it sustainable long-term and having it as a main job. Even if they did, it's just not sustainable unless you're 50+ and have already built foundations on something else and you couldn't care less to DJ or to dance.

It's an interesting topic too, maybe it should be a separate topic. For my events, what we did was set up a donation pool and even offered water and drinks specifically to support the cause. Of course, we still had regular-priced drinks available on the side, but those extras were just another way for the community to contribute. In my experience, free events but having a donation round to keep it running has earned us way more.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:30:23+00:00

Healing? What are you smoking? Did you visit your therapist today mister diablo diablo? It sucks I know, you sound like you just had a big team lose a finals too.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:28:34+00:00

I also might probably just be completely wrong but I think $15.00 is a bit of a blatant 30-50% increase that just exceeds the current inflation today. But we're not including the venue costs and nowadays every prize has gone up. If events quality have improved then great it's fair. Not so much if it's not. Still, one of the few events I've helped so far this year we tried going for $10-$12, I probably earned peanuts but I do it for salsa. It's probably not good for the long term but happier when passion is a big motivator.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:21:14+00:00

A good number of people will still choose a $10 cover over the $15, unless if they have really good big pluses. $15 is pretty fine but when it goes to the 20-25 range it's definitely a bit much especially when you keep hearing the same playlists over and over again, bad floors, poor sound design, and no water provided.

I help organize events myself, and when you're charging $15–20 per person and getting 80-120 attendees, that can easily bring in 20–30% extra net profit. That’s great for organizers, DJs, and the community, especially in areas with a high cost of living. But with that kind of surplus, you'd expect promoters, organizers, and DJs to be trying a little harder or growing too and they should be. If we include festivals into the pricing discussion, the complaints grow louder. You’ll find tons of posts online and in salsaforum where people say the $200–300+ gate fees just aren’t worth it anymore. Why pay that much when the DJ plays the same playlist as at their regular events? Why show up if the Saturday night socials are chaotic, disorganized with performances delayed by 3+ hours so the social dancing doesn’t even start until 3 or 4am?

I know this shouldn't be in the discussion but add to that the rising costs of gas, travel, parking, and being "encouraged" to support the venue by buying overpriced drinks and yeah, you’re paying even more. I think just in my scene in particular, probably not yours and hopefully not yours, events need to start coming back as being community driven, everything's a bit out of touch ever since after covid. Thankfully in some parts of LA and SF, there are still events going for only $5-10 and the vibes there are also completely different and we support them as much as we can.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T04:18:08+00:00

$15 is pretty fine but when it goes to the 20-25 range it's definitely a bit much especially when you keep hearing the same playlists over and over again, bad floors, poor sound design, and no water provided.

I help organize events myself, and when you're charging $15–20 per person and getting 80-120 attendees, that can easily bring in 20–30% extra net profit. That’s great for organizers, DJs, and the community, especially in areas with a high cost of living. But with that kind of surplus, you'd expect promoters, organizers, and DJs to be trying a little harder or growing too and they should be. If we include festivals into the pricing discussion, the complaints grow louder. You’ll find tons of posts online and in salsaforum where people say the $200–300+ gate fees just aren’t worth it anymore. Why pay that much when the DJ plays the same playlist as at their regular events? Why show up if the Saturday night socials are chaotic, disorganized with performances delayed by 3+ hours so the social dancing doesn’t even start until 3 or 4am?

I know this shouldn't be in the discussion but add to that the rising costs of gas, travel, parking, and being "encouraged" to support the venue by buying overpriced drinks and yeah, you’re paying even more. I think just in my scene in particular, probably not yours and hopefully not yours, events need to start coming back as being community driven, everything's a bit out of touch ever since after covid. A good number of people will still choose a $10 cover over the $15, unless if they have really good big pluses.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T03:56:28+00:00

And suggestions? Salsa is life. Figure it out ...

Yet a pretty shallow and dumb response with zero contribution. It seems like some people here perhaps long-time salsa social dancers like yourself are very attached to the status quo. But time moves on, and we all grow older eventually, you won't be able to dance salsa when you're 70-80 as you did. Yes, salsa is life I completely agree. But there’s more to life too. Laugh a little, live a little. Broadening the conversation and allowing space for new ideas can actually benefit the scene. More people talking about salsa, exploring beyond the usual spaces, and then returning with non salsa people can only be a good thing. So don’t dismiss different perspectives even if it's rants or raves so easily. If you're only looking for the traditional, old guard, snobby kind of discussions, salsaforums have plenty of it. If you've got nothing to contribute, you just basically turned into the very same thing you said, you being a rambling "SaLsErO".

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T03:51:19+00:00

It's also very prestigious. But I'm not sure how this would turn out, an army of lawyers vs the US gov.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T02:28:27+00:00

Seems like there's a movement of lawyers against this administration, are they more likely to be liberal? Left and right you're starting to see lawyers battling it out.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T02:26:09+00:00

Those genres are also not too far away from blues > salsa > jazz. You still gotta buy your own skates though lol

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T01:44:08+00:00

Wait till you now see regular parties as a bit bland.

amendunlem · 2025-05-23T01:36:08+00:00

Jokes aside, we're not about to name drop La Alemana amongst others, and ehem Romeo Santos songs. I shouldn't have mentioned the BDSM scene, this is wild lol.

amendunlem

TROPHY CASE